Thread by @DrEricDing

⚠️KIDS HOSPITALIZATIONS—The “highly transmissible” #Omicron variant is putting disproportionately large numbers of children under the age of 5 years old in hospitals, a top South African government medical adviser said Friday. #COVID19 🧵
thedailybeast.com/omicron-varian…

2) “for example, that in the city of Tshwane Metro, more than 100 children under the age of 5 were admitted to hospitals with COVID in the first two weeks of the new fourth wave (Nov. 14 to 27). In the first two weeks in May 2021 wave, <20 children were admitted to hospitals.”

3) She said that with adults increasingly vaccinated, children are the ones who are “getting sick and need to be admitted.”

thedailybeast.com/omicron-varian…

3) She added that pediatricians at the Tshwane hospital had told them, anecdotally, that “all” of the children ages 12-18 who were admitted were not vaccinated, even though they were eligible. thedailybeast.com/omicron-varian…

4) “And the younger children, younger than 12, who were not eligible for vaccination, none of their parents, except for three, were vaccinated.”
She said this showed “the value of vaccination in the adult protecting the children in the homes.” thedailybeast.com/omicron-varian…

5) this hospital surge is also interesting because the positivity rate of cases is not even the highest for kids age <5. Highest positivity is in teens 10-19.

6) Let’s compare old May wave (blue) versus the new #Omicron wave (in orange) of hospitalizations by age group. Notice how disproportionately it’s now sending over 📍 6x more kids age 0-4 to hospital in the first two weeks of each wave. 👀

7) both cases (blue) and hospital admissions (orange) overall is soaring in Gauteng 🇿🇦

8) 6x rise at least in 2 weeks. But week 48 still being added and backfilled with more. It will likely be even worse soon. Mild my ass.

9) well, this escalated quickly — look at the new Omicron wave (black) vs past waves in Gauteng 🇿🇦. #Omicron

https://twitter.com/rid1tweets/status/1466828284445040645

10) key reminder that kids are “critical hidden superspreaders” according to research …. And that was even before #Omicron. Omicron now seems 4-6x more transmissible (from combination of contagiousness and evasiveness). Kids outbreaks at schools happen often… see 👇

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1458027885541928961